11 



That comment struck home to me just last year. Senator Chafee 

 and I and others, including the Vice President, were among partici- 

 pants at the Earth Summit in Rio. We learned first-hand what 

 other countries thought of our commitment to environmental pro- 

 tection and, frankly, they did not see us as leaders. In some cases, 

 they saw us as worse than followers. 



Now, simply elevating EPA to Cabinet status obviously will not 

 cure those ills, but having a Secretary of Environmental Protection 

 in Rio certainly would not have hurt us, and I believe it even 

 might have helped. If we expect to be world leaders on environ- 

 mental policies, our negotiators must be able to deal with other 

 countries on an equal footing. Establishing a Cabinet Department 

 of Environmental Protection I think will do that. 



Mr. Chairman, the legislation is critical. It is necessary, long 

 overdue, and should be enacted. I stand ready to work with you to 

 see that it is enacted as quickly as possible. 



Thank you. 



Chairman Glenn. Thank you very much. Senator Baucus. 



Senator Jeffords. 



TESTIMONY OF HON. JAMES M. JEFFORDS, U.S. SENATOR FROM 



THE STATE OF VERMONT 



Senator Jeffords. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



I also want to commend you for your diligence in attempting to 

 get this legislation through. I strongly support this bill and ap- 

 plaud the Committee for taking it up again, and I know this has 

 not been an easy task. I certainly would like to say I support the 

 comments made by the Chairman of the Environment Committee 

 and endorse them. 



In spite of the fact that this bill is in the purview of your Com- 

 mittee, I appreciate the jurisdictional concerns that made your task 

 rather difficult. I have a number of comments which I will mostly 

 submit for the record, in the interests of time. My comments are 

 not meant to make your task more difficult. These comments are 

 meant as much for EPA as for the Committee. 



First, I am concerned about the number of Level 4 presidential 

 appointments. With the 10 assistant secretaries, I believe that the 

 total number of such appointees comes to 12. That is roughly 1 

 Level 4 appointee per 1,500 employees. By contrast, the Depart- 

 ment of Defense has roughly 1 Level 4 employee per 27,000 employ- 

 ees. I believe the Department of the Interior has about 20,000 em- 

 ployees for each Level 4 appointment. Your bill provides flexibility 

 as to the number of appointees which I hope the Secretary of the 

 Environment will utilize. Hopefully, the commission authorized by 

 this bill will also help streamline the agency, such that 10 assistant 

 secretaries will not be needed, 



I recognize that nearly everyone has a position they would like 

 to see as assistant secretary level, myself included. I would like to 

 see the new Administrator restore the Associate Administrator for 

 Regional Operations and State and Local Affairs to confirmed 

 status. Our cities and towns need to know that EPA has placed 

 their concerns at the highest level. 



